Abrasilver files NI 43-101 PEA report for Diablillos, Argentina
Abrasilver Resource Corp. [ABRA-TSXV; OBBRF-OTC] filed a NI 43-101 compliant technical report describing the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) completed on its wholly owned Diablillos project in Salta province, Argentina.
Results of the PEA were previously reported in the company’s news release dated November 29, 2021, and there are no differences in the technical report from those results.
Highlights of the PEA include robust economics; Pretax 5% NPV of US$678.5-million (CAD$882.1-million) with an IRR of 44.3%; After-tax 5% NPV of US$364.0-million (CAD$473.2-million) with an IRR of 30.2%. Production rate is 7,000 tonnes per day (tpd) with an initial mine life of up to 16 years. In first five years production would be 8.0 million ounces silver and 44.3 koz, (11.4 Moz AgEq).
Life-of-mine production would be 4.2 Moz silver and 52.0 koz gold, (8.5 Moz AgEq). All-in Sustaining Cash Costs (AISC) during first 5 years is $10.41/oz AgEq with AISC during the Life-of-Mine of $11.97/oz AgEq. Initial Capital Expenditure is $255.0 million, with payback period of 2.6 years.
Several potential opportunities have been identified that may further enhance the economic returns. One such opportunity is to increase the production rate above the 7,000 tpd used as the base case in the PEA. It is believed that the Diablillos project could sustain a higher production rate, especially if Mineral Resources continue to grow as a result of additional drilling. A higher production rate may lead to improved operating efficiencies and future trade-off studies will evaluate the optimal throughput.
Abrasilver is rapidly advancing its Diablillos silver-gold project which has a current Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of over 90 million ounces of silver and 1.0 million ounces of gold. The company has long-term supportive shareholders including Eric Sprott and SSR Mining. In addition, Abrasilver owns a portfolio of earlier-stage projects including the La Coipita copper-gold project in the San Juan province of Argentina.